Owning land in India no proof of country's citizenship, rules Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court on Friday (July 17) ruled that land records cannot be treated as proof of Indian citizenship, observing that ownership of immovable property has no bearing on a person's nationality.

A Division Bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Md. Shabbar Rashidi observed while hearing a petition filed on behalf of Nasir Mollah, who was detained in West Bengal in June on suspicion of being an illegal Bangladeshi immigrant.

"A foreign national can buy a property in India. Merely because a foreign national buys an immovable property in India ipso facto does not make such purchaser an Indian citizen," the court said in its two-page order.

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The Bench clarified that Indian law permits foreign nationals to purchase property in the country. Therefore, ownership of land or possession of land records, by itself, cannot establish Indian citizenship.

Detainee’s plea

The petition was filed by Nasir's cousin, Suman Mollah, who challenged his detention. During the hearing, the Bengal government submitted a report claiming that Nasir had admitted to being born in Rahimpur, Bangladesh, and had entered India illegally around 14-15 years ago.

According to the report, Nasir had filled out an enumeration form during the 2026 Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls by linking himself to his cousin. However, his name was omitted from the draft electoral roll. It remained excluded even after a hearing, and an appeal before the SIR Appellate Tribunal, filed in early April, is still pending.

Proof of Indian citizenship

When the court asked the petitioner's counsel to produce documents proving Nasir's citizenship, the lawyer admitted that none of the documents filed with the petition conclusively established his Indian citizenship except land records.

The Bench observed that, "Land records, which the petitioner refers to again, are not a document of proof of Indian citizenship."

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The petitioner's family also relied on Nasir's Aadhaar and PAN cards. However, the court reiterated that neither these identity documents nor land records constitute conclusive legal proof of citizenship.

The high court granted the petitioner another opportunity until July 20 to file an affidavit producing documents that can establish Nasir's Indian citizenship.

Passport row

The ruling comes amid a nationwide debate over what legally constitutes proof of Indian citizenship, triggered by the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls in various states of the country and a series of government clarifications.

The controversy intensified after senior Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) officials, during Passport Seva Divas on June 24, clarified that an Indian passport is primarily a travel document and not conclusive proof of citizenship. The ministry later reiterated that passports are issued after due verification under the Passports Act, 1967, but their possession alone does not legally establish citizenship.

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Government officials also cited a 2013 Bombay High Court judgment, which held that a passport cannot be treated as definitive proof of citizenship since the Passports Act allows the Centre to issue passports to non-citizens in exceptional cases if it is considered necessary in the public interest.

Under the Citizenship Act, 1955, India does not issue a universal citizenship certificate to citizens by birth. In legal proceedings, citizenship is generally established through evidence relating to birth, parentage or ancestry, rather than by relying solely on commonly held identity documents such as Aadhaar, PAN or land records.

SIR exercise

The debate has gained significance during the ongoing SIR exercise, in which millions of voter records have come under scrutiny, requiring individuals whose names were excluded from electoral rolls to establish their citizenship.

The issue has also reached the Supreme Court, which recently set aside 27 Gauhati High Court judgments that had mechanically upheld Foreigners Tribunals' decisions declaring individuals as illegal migrants.